The artist Sarah Brayer has a show in Kyoto at the end of this week that promises to be quite exciting. Those familiar with Sarah’s work, know that while consistent in its grace and beauty, over the years it is has also undergone a remarkable series of transformations in both media and styles. Already known internationally for her poured washi paperworks and aquatint prints, recently she has begun to explore the medium of glass. I’m looking forward in particular to seeing her new glass works which she created during her recent sojourn in Beijing.

It was a crisp December evening last winter when Sarah invited me up to her studio in north Kyoto for a private viewing of her “Luminosity” exhibit. Though we had corresponded before, this was my first time to meet her in person, but I found her to be a charming, friendly lady with whom I was quickly at my ease. Arriving at the studio, she asked me to wait outside while she went in and got things prepared. Having done so, she turned off the lights, and ushered me into to that large shadowy space… I gasped. Hanging soft all about me in the dark were great silver-white, luminescent clouds, in which I discerned visions: of dragons, planets, and constellations, the creeping tide and mist over the sea… [Read more…]